Arthur held up his hand. "One moment, Miss. I know very little about meal planning. That is my wife's domain." He rung the bell again, and a footman stepped in almost instantly. "Please bring my wife over." Arthur said, and when the man left, he smiled at Vela. "I would not want to hurt her feelings, you see," he explained.

And soon said wife stepped in. She looked hardly older than Vela herself with dark hair and dark eyes, eyes that landed on Vela with jealous suspicion. She had a petite shape and was elegantly dressed in a gracious violet gown. She walked over to her husband and leaned on the back of the armchair, placing a hand on her husband's shoulder, while her eyes were still fixed on Vela. "This must be the cook?"

"Chef, darling," Arthur quickly corrected. "This is Miss Rosewine. Miss Rosewine, this is my wife. Perhaps you would like to discuss the menu with her."

Vela nodded with a smile.  "Of course."  She was curious about the wife, but as he had been the one inviting her for the meeting, she had not asked about the spouse.  Having input from both of them would help the event be much more likely to be a success.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, My Lady McPadriac." Vela gave a polite nod in greeting to the wife. 

She had learned to hold her expression when clients surprised her.  The young woman was lovely, and often men would marry a younger woman.  She wondered if this was a new wife or was the young woman just holding her age well.  She thought she had heard there were children, but she couldn't remember the ages of the children.  Seeing the woman, she couldn't imagine the children she might have had to be very old.

 She had appreciated it when His Lordship had corrected her title.  It was something she worked hard to earn that title.  Many chefs were snobby about their position and lording over the kitchen staff.  Vela tried not to be like that, though the title was an accomplishment especially as a female and from her social situation.  Some at first took it as a joke, but once she had proven her ability and skill, she gathered the reputation she now had as an excellent chef even among some of the chefs that had snubbed her.  Not that they would say that to her in person, but she had heard from her mentor that it was spreading.

After the gentleman had indicated that she continues on, she gave a brief summary.  "The notes so far are an event on March 1st, about 8 pm.  There are likely to be about 12 gentlemen and possibly their wives.   Ten courses has been chosen but without fish."

She looked up with her focus on the wife. "The general order would be hors d'oeuvre, soup, appetizer, salad, fish, main course, palate cleanser, second main course, dessert, and mignardise.  However, the question of this would be which would you prefer to replace the fish course?  An amuse-bouche before the soup or I could put a cheese course before the dessert?"

She poised her pen ready to make more notes.  "I can then give some suggestions for your approval if you would like."  She offered.

Lady McPadraic merely gave a nod in response to the greeting, and did not apologize for using the wrong title. As Vela summed up the plans for the dinner party, the woman looked around the room with glassy eyes, and her face was emotionless. All but for suppressing a yawn, she seemed hardly to try to hide her disinterest.

Yet she looked back at Vela when she mentioned fish as one of the courses after saying she would exclude it. "I'm allergic to fish," the young woman noted, but even that as a quiet soliloquy, rather than addressing Vela directly.

Arthur patted her hand on his shoulder. "She knows."

When the chef then offered two possible replacements for her to choose from, she frowned a little and wrinkled her nose. She seemed to think for a moment. "Cheese is heavy... And we have too many starters already."

Vela maintained her professional expression as the other woman seemed less interested in the event than her husband was.  That would either make it easier to plan it or more difficult depending on if complaints were made of the choices later.  It could be an issue for any chef, and some chefs became temperamental about it, even vulgar about it.  She did her best to stay calm and find solutions, but it could be challenging even for her.

Nodding at the allergy to the fish, Vela continued.  "Then we will go with the amuse-bouche before the soup, then."  She made the note in her book.  She looked back at the couple wondering if they would want her to come up with a possible menu for them to approve or not.

She glanced down at the list and started another page with a few ideas that had already come into her mind.  Deciding to go ahead and list a few of the ideas, to see what they might think about them, she tapped the notebook with the pen a couple of times thinking about the first two courses.

"I was thinking for the hors d'oeuvre to start with 'angels on horseback'.  It is a unique visual and quite tasty.  They are made up of fried skewered oysters and bacon in butter served on toast, it can be eaten straight from the skewer."  She glanced at the couple before continuing.  "Then for the amuse-bouch, a Blini with trout roe caviar and crème fraiche."

Lady McPadraic looked displeased when Vela made a choice for her. Her dark eyes narrowed a little on the other woman and she wrinkled her nose once again. Then when Vela proposed several dishes, she gasped. "Didn't I say I was allergic? No seafood."

She had noticed the other woman's expression, but the other woman had not responded previously.  This one was going to be difficult it seemed.  Well, it was impossible to read the woman's thoughts.  She would just continue and field issues as they came.

Vela nodded, "The typical oyster that I would have used can be substituted with mountain oysters."  She had thought to substitute it but had been thinking too fast to keep up with her description.  "His Lordship has requested exotic or unique.   If your guests have had this type of dish previously, they would find a delightful surprise.  The skewers could be done in an artistic display for each guest upon an individual plate."

"The blini can be decorated without the caviar.  Bite-size blini are topped with chives, a dollop of rich creme fraiche, diminutive quail eggs to give the visual of a flower on each."  She explained.  She was used to describing the original and then look at how to adapt it for the client.   She waited to hear of replies to the adaptations.

"An oyster is an oyster." Lady McPadraic responded dryly to Vela's suggested substitution.

"I don't think a mountain oyster is seafood, my dear." Arthur quickly interrupted. "There is no sea life on mountains." He was not unaware of the tension in the room, but he preferred not to get involved. He was planning an important dinner party and everything would have to go perfect. He did not want it to be ruined and to look like a fool in front of possible sponsors over his wife's apparent dislike for the chef. But he did not want to openly scold her either and embarrass the both of them in front of the chef.

"Oh you are so clever!" his wife praised in a voice so sugary that it bordered on sarcasm.

There was a slight twitch of Arthur's mouth, but he turned back to Vela with a smile. "Do explain to us what mountain oysters are, if you'd be so kind, Miss Rosewine."

Vela nodded at the request and did so with a calm tone as if it were of nothing out of the ordinary.  "Usually, the dish is created using the oysters you are familiar with.  However, for in our case, the substitution can be made creating a dish unique for your event.  The Mountain oysters, or meat balls, is a dish made of bull testicles."  She had no embarrassment as she explained it, as it was merely a cut of meat.

Though she had caused a few coughing fits among her mother's group and friends when she had first made something for them with that particular cut and been asked what it was.  Her father had laughed about it.   They had liked the dish immensely, but her mother had asked later to go over the menu with her ahead of time from then on.

Upon hearing the word 'testicles', Lady McPadraic gasped, brought her hand to the mouth, and fainted.

Arthur jumped up. "Goodness!" It was hardly the first time his wife had fainted and he should probably have seen it coming. He picked her up and put her in the chair. "Please, could you bring the smelling salts from the cabinet beside the door." There were some in every room, since these were weekly, if not daily scenes.

"Oh, dear!" Vela let her pen, notebook, and gloves drop to the floor.  That had not been expected at all.  Surprise, but this was a new kind of situation for her.  She rushed over to the cabinet and found the smelling salts.  Bringing them back, she handed them over to the Baron. 

"Is she okay? "  She looked at the other woman with concern.  "I am not sure how else to explain it."  She murmured worriedly.  She tended to be direct and honest, it had gotten her into some rather uncomfortable situations, but to survive as a female chef in their training and in any professional kitchen, she had been required to have a spine and a straight forward manner.

When with her family and personal friends, she was more ladylike when not working.  However, she had never been a fainter, such as the woman before her.  Nor had been her mother nor her closest friends.  She had known some of her mother's friends were more delicate, but she had not been there to witness such a case. 

"Should we call for a doctor?"